Business Commons^™

The Quality Of Corporate Governance And The Length It Takes To Remove Apoor Performing Ceo. Does Performance Of The Former Firm Affect A Ceo's Ability To Find An Identical With A Subsequent Firm?, Huong Nguyen

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract 1:

In this paper, we investigate the effects of internal corporate governance on the length it takes to remove a CEO after the initial sign of poor firm performance. We find that firms that have a better quality of internal corporate governance are quicker to remove poor-performing CEOs. This result persists after controlling for other factors that might influence the CEO removal decision.

Abstract 2:

Employing a sample of voluntary CEO turnovers selected from S&P 500 firms over the period 2004-2009, I investigate the impact prior firm performance on a CEO’s potential of being hired on an equivalent job …

Two Essays On Investment, Yao Zheng

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two essays: one looks at the time-varying relationship between earnings and price momentum, and the other looks at how liquidity and transparency affect the pricing differential between Chinese A-and Hong Kong H-share.

The first essay presented in Chapter I investigates the time varying relationship between earnings momentum and price momentum. Using a Markov-switching framework, allowing for variation between high volatility and low volatility states, I find that price momentum is significantly more influenced by earnings momentum in the high volatility state. Further for price momentum I find that loser firms display a higher degree of differential …

The Compatibility Of National Culture In International Mergers And Acquisitions, Chaoyun Liu

Senior Honors Theses

This paper examines the relationship between national culture differences and five-day cumulative abnormal returns of acquirers around cross-border merger announcements. The sample consists of 1,200 cross-border deals by frequent acquirers from emerging countries for the period of January 1, 1985 to June 30, 2008. The main objective is to analyze the relation between the difference in Hofstede (1984)’s four cultural dimensions --- power distance, individualism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance and the merger performance. The results imply the compatibility of some cultural dimensions, individualism in particular, that result in gains in merger. The results also show that the cultural effects vary …

A Report On An Internship With The New Orleans Opera Association, Danqian Liu

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This paper is based on my internship at the New Orleans Opera Association, which took place from May 16th to October 31st, 2012. The primary activity of the New Orleans Opera Association is to produce three to four mainstage operas each season. The Opera Association is a vital part of the cultural and economic life of the City. The New Orleans Opera Association is governed by a Board of Directors and a General and Artistic Director heading a staff of eight.

This report includes detailed information about the organization's history and current programs. It also includes a description of my …

The Art Of Engagement In A Tourist Economy: An Examination Of Prospect.2, Tara Foster

Arts Administration Master's Reports

The landscape of contemporary art in New Orleans is a challenging one, and in relative infancy. U.S. Biennial, Inc. immediately following Hurricane Katrina saw an opportunity to merge this burgeoning scene with the well-established tourism industry. As a result, the Prospect New Orleans biennials are an attempt to increase cultural tourism through the presentation of international contemporary art exhibitions. Audience engagement is a current hot topic for arts organizations of all kinds. Concerns over sustainability and community relevance have led many arts organizations to deeply examine who their targeted audiences are and how they are engaging those audiences. While U.S. …

Contemporary Arts Center: A Case Study Of A Nonprofit Arts Organization, Meredith Harper

Arts Administration Master's Reports

The following paper documents Meredith Harper’s internship from May 2012 to August 2012 at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, LA as part of the degree requirements for the Master of Arts in Arts Administration. The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) is the only non-collecting, multi-disciplinary arts center in New Orleans, and has worked to present the very best of the "art of now" to the New Orleans community since 1976.

This paper is written from the point of view of an arts administrator observing the organization as an outsider. This paper will discuss the responsibilities and duties of the …

French Quarter Festivals, Incorporated: A Report On Volunteer Coordination And Educational Programming, Kylee Kidder

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This internship report reviews the non-profit entity French Quarter Festivals, Inc. (FQFI), and each of the three festivals it produces. The report includes an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the organization and offers suggestions for improvements. The history of FQFI, a description of programs and a breakdown of the staff structure provide a basic understanding of the organization. For the purpose of this internship report, the timeframe being reviewed covers June 2012 through August 2012.

Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre: Internship Report, Allison Kate Barron

Arts Administration Master's Reports

The following report documents my internship with Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre (SLT) during the summer of 2012. Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre was established in 1968. It is beloved by many faithful patrons in the New Orleans community. During my internship, I worked with the administrative staff and box office manager to focus on box office operations and volunteer oordination.

My primary goals were to sell tickets for the upcoming season and to obtain volunteers for purposes of ushering the shows, and keeping patrons happy. This internship report provides an overview of Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre based on observational research and …

Kid Smart: Working To Increase Capacity, Suzanna Gidley Ritz

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This internship report is based on my work with the organization KID smART from June of 2011 through November of 2012. I had the opportunity to work in several departments, including programming, development, and administrative support, as well as directly with students in New Orleans public schools. From this unique point of view, I observed how an effective organization approaches the complex education system and works towards change in a challenging environment. My observations attempt to describe the evolution of this dynamic agency, its procedures for regulation and evaluation, and what role it plays in the community. My recommendations are …

Corporate Governance, Performance And Risk-Taking In The U.S. Banking Industry, Jennifer Osullivan

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we first examine the relationship between performance of the bank holding company and several board characteristics. We use five proxies for bank performance including Tobin’s Q, ROA, loan loss reserve ratio, non-performing asset ratio, and net charge-offs ratio. Board characteristic variables we include are board size, proportion of outsiders, CEO power, CEO tenure and board tenure. We find that a large board enhances bank performance, as proxied by Tobin’s Q and loan quality variables. We find no evidence that board structure or CEO power influences firm performance. We see that CEO and board tenure have a positive …

Two Essays In Financial Economics, Jatin Ravikant Malhotra

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the first chapter of this dissertation, I examine the relationship between hedging and diversification effects on CEO compensation in the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry. The REIT industry is suitable for this investigation for various reasons; primarily being that the REIT sample represents a relatively clean sample to study the effects of diversification and hedging on compensations. I find a positive and significant relationship between the interaction variable which reflects the effects of both hedging and diversification and CEO pay-for-performance sensitivity. This is consistent with the notion that managers are in a better position to manage firm risk …

Report On An Arts Administration Internship With The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Curtis G. Dugas

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This report reviews the internal structure of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), a non-profit entity, and provides an analysis of issues facing the organization. A history of the LPO, description of programs, and staff structure review provide a basic understanding of the organization. For the purpose of this internship report, the timeframe of the internship took place from August 2011 through January 2012.

Two Essays In Islamic Finance And Investment, Hesham J. Merdad

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The main purpose of this dissertation is to lessen the gap in the Islamic finance and investment literature by providing new answers to the most vital question raised in that literature: Is the adherence to the Shariah law associated with at any cost?

The first chapter provides a primer on Islamic finance. It discusses several restrictions and necessary adaptations that must be made to have a Shariah-compliant product. The takeaway is that Shariah law mandates is related to fundamentals and, thus has a direct effect on the risk-return profile of all sorts of different products. This is referred to as …

A Comparison Of Profiles And Expenditures Between Volunteer And Leisure Tourists For The New Orleans Metropolitan Statistical Area, Ksenia Kirillova

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This research compared the expenditure patterns, profiles, and trip characteristics of volunteer and leisure tourists in New Orleans. Survey research methods were used to obtain a sample of voluntourists that was compared to a leisure tourist sample obtained from secondary data. Visitors’ expenditures across six types of spending, demographics, and travel information were collected. Data analysis included eight t-tests that revealed that voluntourists’ spending was lower in five out of six categories, total daily expenditures, and total trip spending. Voluntourists spent more on local transportation but preferred cheaper accommodations and dining, seldom gambled, shopped little at the destination, and rarely …

Two Essays: “Does Corporate Governance Affect The Adjustment Speed Towards Target Capital Structure?” And “Do Option Traders On Reits And Non-Reits React Differently To New Information?”, Li-Kai Liao

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The first chapter investigates how corporate governance influences firms’ capital structure behavior. Based on the premise that costs associated with deviations from the target capital structure are positively correlated to the extent of deviation, we hypothesize that the initial deviation from the target will be shorter for a firm with good corporate governance than for a firm with poor corporate governance. We also hypothesize that the former group will employ a higher speed of adjustment towards target than the latter group due primarily to the following reasons. First, a firm with well-placed governance system will adjust at a faster rate …

Momentum, Nonlinear Price Discovery And Asymmetric Spillover: Sovereign Credit Risk And Equity Markets Of Emerging Countries And, Geoffrey M. Ngene

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In Chapter 1, I hypothesize that there is a differential response by agents to changes in sovereign credit or default risk in both quiet (low default risk) and turbulent markets (high default risk). These market conditions create two different states of the market (world) or regimes. Investors and policy makers respond differently in the two regimes but the response in the turbulent market condition is amplified as policy makers attempt to smoothen the fluctuations and uncertainty while investors rebalance their portfolios in an attempt to hedge against downside risk of wealth loss. In the two regimes, the short run and …

The Louisiana State Museum: A Report, Christina Barrois-Pinner

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This report is written as the result of an extensive internship from May to September 2011 at the Louisiana State Museum. During my time at the Louisiana State Museum I worked as a full-time marketing intern in the main office at the Presbytere. The aim of this report is to provide a comprehensive overview of the Louisiana State Museum as an organization and I will be focusing on the museum’s marketing department. Drawing from my experiences, research and interviews with key individuals; my report includes an analysis of the organization, description of my internship duties and recommendations for the museum …

George Rodrigue Foundation Of The Arts, Jennifer Maurer

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This is a report on the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts (GRFA) following an internship with the organization from June until September 2011. This report consists of an organizational summary, an account of the internship, SWOT analysis, best practices and concluding thoughts. Modeled after the Thea Foundation in Little Rock, Arkansas, GRFA advocates the importance of art in youth development, and its mission is reflected by George Rodrigue’s testimony of the positive influence of art in his life.

Root Division: Connecting Personal Inspiration And Community Participation Throughout The Next 10 Years, Ashlee Nell Rivalto

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This report is the result of an organizational internship (June 6, 2011-September 30, 2011) at Root Division, a visual art nonprofit located in San Francisco, CA. The nature of the internship required work in many facets of the organization allowing a full analysis of the organization’s operations, funding streams, and goals for the future. This report begins with an extensive overview of this unique organization, which celebrates its 10-year anniversary in 2012. The report then analyzes organizational observations, finding that Root Division must focus on strategic communication and new relationships with donors in order to obtain future goals. The paper …

Delta Theatre Productions: A Start-Up Theatre Company, Amanda Sutton Davis

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This report is the result of a year-long internship with a new theatre company in New Orleans, Delta Theatre Productions, currently operating under the name Delta Productions. I functioned as the Managing Director for this start-up, building organizational infrastructure from the ground up, guiding the process of its first production from idea to final product, and creating the branding of the organization in order to set it apart from its competition and establish it as a viable and healthy theatrical company for the New Orleans community. This report tells the story of how the organization began, reports on my duties …

Dance Exchange: An Internship Report, Colleen Robinson

Arts Administration Master's Reports

As an administrative intern at Dance Exchange in Takoma Park, MD I had the opportunity to study this organization in a transitional phase following the departure of its founder Liz Lerman. I worked with Dance Exchange from September 6th, 2012 to December 16th, 2012. During that time I updated their media and donor lists, social media outlets, maintained the social media outlets, and assisted in the planning and execution of their HOME events, among other tasks. This paper will serve as an organizational analysis of Dance Exchange. Following this analysis, I will offer suggestions on how Dance Exchange might proceed …

Internship Report For The New Orleans Ballet Association, Ashley Floyd

Arts Administration Master's Reports

The following internship report documents my marketing internship with the New Orleans Ballet Association in the summer of 2011. Incorporated in 1969, NOBA is one of the few organizations in the Central Gulf region dedicated solely to dance. During my internship, I worked with the Marketing Coordinator and Executive Director on culminating events centered around NOBA's season of dance and education programs. My primary goals were to create and distribute marketing material concerning the upcoming season and to assist the Marketing Coordinator with event promotions. This internship report provides an overview of NOBA based on observational research and in-depth analysis …